I was recently the victim of a fraud by an Instagram user, the admin of the ArtsHelpOfficial Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/artshelpofficial), which was the name of the page when the fraud happened but the page has been renamed several times so the link may not open but it's still there under a similar name (artshelpingpage, artassist, artists page, arts official, arts helps...).
Here is the name and email of the main person/admin associated to the artshelpofficial instagram page who stole my money: Robert Lawley: [email protected]. This person has proposed me to buy his page for 3100 USD, once he received my money, he gave me the access for about 10 days, then he hacked the page, took it back and renamed it.
I received a message from the admin of ArtsHelpOfficial page on the 18th of December 2017, in which he proposed me to buy his page. Being an artist myself, I was of course interested, I wasn't aware this is not allowed by Instagram conditions. So we started negotiating the prices. The admin of this page asked me to do the payment by Western Union to a certain Josiah Mukanganiki in Northern Cyprus, which of course I was reluctant to do but he somehow manipulated me and had many good reasons and arguments, first on Instagram, then on Kik, then on Google Hangout. I made the payment because I really wanted the page.
Then I got the password and made about 10 posts in 1 week. After one week, the page got hacked, I received an email alert saying that a person with the email [email protected] (clearly a hacker's email, by the way!) had reset the password of the page (I can forward you this email alert of course). I couldn't log in to the page anymore. After it got hacked, I noticed the email of the previous owner of the page ([email protected]) was in the info of the page so I quickly realized that this asshole fooled me, he didn't respect our agreement, he stole my money and hacked the page himself!
I was quite upset, so I contacted him asking what had happened. That's were the story becomes even more crazy. He told me that his friends working at Facebook/Instagram in California (named "Michael with the following number: 0015618995416) could help put my email back to the page as the main owner, of course against a new payment, which of course I was not going to do this time! This was clearly a corruption if it was true... Out of curiosity I called Michael and asked him what happened. The guy confirmed he was working for Facebook and that he could put my name back against payment.
Of course I thought this was another cyber criminal (or maybe the same guy?!) and I asked him to give me guarantees that he was working at Facebook/Instagram, so he gave me my email, password, all my login and logout precise times, very accurately, I had never shared these info to anyone, so I think the guy is either really working at Facebook/Instagram or is a criminal having access to Instagram system. In both cases, there is a problem!
Anyway, being sure Michael and Robert Lawley were both involved in this cyber fraud, I stopped all contacts with them and started reporting the issue to Facebook/Instagram in France. They asked me to translate my report in English, which I did and they said they would send it to Instagram/Facebook services in the US. So I'm now waiting for them to investigate, check all my documents, call this guy, etc.
I'm publishing this because there might have been many other victims before me and there might be new victims in the future and it will go on and on if no action is taken on their side. Of course I want to either have my money back or at least the page. I already filed a complaint to the police and cyber criminality services in Belgium against Robert Lawley and Josiah Mukanganiki. I'll also file a complaint at Europol and Interpol services.
